There wasn't any question about his getting into enough trouble this time. He just hoped he wouldn't get into too much trouble!
Trader Harkness was a very important man, but Johnny didn't like him. He had started as a hunter and then had turned trader. By killing off most of his opposition, he had become the only important trader on Venus. If he hadn't wanted a walled settlement to protect his goods, the colony might have failed. A hunter would stop at nothing to get what he needed and the colony had had more than one of its tanks ambushed and stolen to hunt marva.
A red, ripe meat fruit was not hard to find. Johnny wrenched one from the branch and held it carefully by its long stem. The size of a small melon, green meat fruit must be cooked before eating. Once ripe, their thin skins are plump full of a sweet strong-smelling paste—a natural high protein baby food.
"There's plenty more," Johnny clicked softly. "Think we ought to get Rick, too?"
"He's too good a friend," Baba clicked back. "Besides he might not give me any more chocolate."
Johnny agreed with a laugh, and pushed leaves aside so he could see. He shivered. Below him came the most powerful man on Venus—a short, immensely fat man, who waddled forward rather than walked. On earth he would have been laughed at, but on Venus he was feared and respected. He liked that respect and demanded it.
Johnny swallowed hard. The man he was going to drop the fruit on had once been ambushed by five hunters—none of them had survived.